Muppets Are Coming to the Museum of the Moving Image

May 22, 2013

Come 2014-2015, New Yorkers are going to be able to meet Miss Piggy in the … felt. On Monday, the Museum of the Moving Image and Mayor Bloomberg announced the creation of a new gallery that will house 400 puppets, costumes, props, and miscellany donated by the family of Jim Henson, the visionary behind Sesame Street.

Kermit the Frog will be present, as will Elmo, Ernie, Bert, and the Count, along with 194 other puppets created during Henson’s lifetime. The city itself is chipping in $2.75 million to construct the new gallery, which is slated to open in the winter of 2014.

It’s only fitting that the city should pay tribute the works of Henson, who based Sesame Street on a fictional Manhattan block. The show, which will not be the only project of Henson’s featured in the new 2,200-square-foot gallery, has also seen its fair share of illustrious New York guests–including Sonia Sotomayor, former NYC mayor David Dinkins, and the Harlem Globetrotters.

Plus, who could forget that time Hootie and the Blowfish taught us how to properly cross the street?